Emotional Roller Coaster!!!

It has been a crazy week. Last week Karen's father was rushed to the Alex from Athabasca and she had to take Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off. Cal was off work Monday anyways, but he also took Tuesday off (actually he worked from home - perks of the job!) and I took Wednesday off. Blake then went to Karen's on Thursday and I was off on Friday. Friday Blake and I met my parents at the mall. We took Blake to see Santa, but he was not very impressed!!! I knew that he would react that way. Hopefully we'll get a good picture one of these days and if not we will all be sitting on Santa's knee :) Friday evening Cal and I put the first coat of paint on the walls of the babies room. It turned out quite well. The color is called toasted grey. We don't see too much grey, but perhaps after the second coat. Cal had school this weekend so on Saturday my Mom picked Blake and I up and we headed out to Stony Plain. We were going to go to breakfast with Santa, but didn't quite make it!! Blake and I hung out at my parents house all day and Mom and I baked 10 dozen cookies while Blake was taking his afternoon nap! I am involved in 2 cookie exchanges and I also wanted to bake cookies for our church's cookie walk sale. Cal came out to Stony after school and we had supper and then headed home. It had totally slipped my mind that I was supposed to call Karen on Friday, regarding her taking today (Monday) off to settle her Dad back at home (he was discharged from the hospital today). So anyways, Karen finally called me and delivered some terrible news. Her Dad is quite ill and her Mom can't take care of him totally on her own so she is going to have to quit working to help her Mom and siblings care for him. Her Mom doesn't drive and therefore can't take him to various appointments, etc. Karen was very upset and I was quite shocked. I had to let her go and call her back later after I collected myself. I feel terrible for Karen and I am not angry at her in the least. I totally understand that family comes first, but to put it bluntly it sucks for Blake!! And Blake is our #1 priority!!!! Karen loves Blake so much, as well as Vanessa who she also babysits, and didn't want to do this but feels like she has no other choice at this time. She feels terrible for the days shes already taken off. I was so upset and kept tearing up just thinking about it! I'm pretty sure pregnancy hormones played a huge role in this, as I am usually very level headed and move on quite quickly! It is very unfortunate that this happened, as we had such an excellent relationship and felt very blessed that we'd found such a wonderful day home. And what upsets me the most is that fact that Blake felt 110% comfortable at Karen's and LOVED playing with Vanessa and Karen and Tippy, Rosie, and Angel (the dog and 2 cats)! So I hate for him to lose that :( And maybe another aspect of this is that I'm very "routine" with Blake and his care and perhaps I should be a bit more flexible?? Anyways, I'm feeling much better now and have found a new day home for Blake. After I relaxed a little bit I suddenly remembered an acquaintance of mine who has a day home, as well as, a lady in my New Mom's group who asked to babysit Blake back when I went back to work in April! My first choice was Charlene (a lady I know through a friend) so I called her on Sunday evening and she said without hesitation that she'd love to watch Blake! I'm very happy with this as since I met her I've really liked her and thought she'd likely have an awesome day home. And my friends son and daughter also go to her day home so we have a very reliable reference :) She only has one 2 year old girl full time (our friends daughter) and all the other children are before and after school care. The funny thing is that we only need care for Blake for 20 days (9 in December and 11 in January) before I go on mat leave. So, we will miss Karen immensely, but everything has turned out in the end! Now I'm just struggling with what to buy her as a thank you gift? How do you say thank you to someone who has helped make your life so easy and loved and cared for your son in the same way you do? Somehow a pedicure gift certificate just doesn't cut it! LOL! We'll think of something. Now the frugal side of me has to mention that by going to Charlene's we will be saving 100's of dollars, because she is charging us a daily rate! LOL! See I always see the positive side!? I took tomorrow morning off and Blake and I are going to Charlene's for a play date and then on Friday we will be going as well. Blake has met Charlene before and has played with Madison, so I'm hoping the transition will go smooth. I think it's hardest on Mom!! And that is what has sent me on this "emotional roller coaster" ride!!! I'm glad to be off that ride :) Today I had a Dr. appointment. All is well and the babies heart rate was 152. Quite a bit higher than Blake's ... hmmm ... !! I am now packing on the weight, which I hate to see but know it's part of pregnancy! I'm going back again in 3 weeks and then will be going every 2 weeks. I can not believe I'm 29 weeks already - it will be February before we know it!!! We hope to have the babies room done by Christmas, so we have some furniture shopping to do! Take care everyone and enjoy the warm weather while it lasts ...

Luv Tracy